Political scientists statewide to attend local event

KALAMAZOO--About 100 political scientists from across Michigan
will congregate in Kalamazoo this Thursday and Friday, Oct. 11-12,
for the 39th Annual Michigan Conference of Political Scientists.

The Western Michigan University Department of Political Science
and Kalamazoo Valley Community College are hosts of the event,
which has not been held in Kalamazoo for at least a decade, says
Dr. John Clark, WMU professor of political science and the event's
organizer.

The throng of college professors will gather at KVCC's Arcadia
Commons Campus downtown for a wide range of activities that includes
presentations by two featured speakers.

Dr. Ed Sidlow, professor of political science at Eastern Michigan
University, will deliver the dinner keynote address at 6:30 p.m.
Thursday. His topic is titled "What Professors Can Learn
from Politicians" and will give an insider's look at political
campaigns gleaned from his years of following politicians on
the campaign trail.

Sidlow is the author of several books, including "Freshman
Orientation: House Style and Home Style" (2007), which followed
former U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz (R-MI) through his term in Congress.
In a 2004 book, "Challenging the Incumbent: An Underdog's
Undertaking," he profiled the unsuccessful House campaign
of Lance Pressl in Illinois.

The other featured speaker is Dr. Michelle Miller-Adams, assistant
professor of political science at Grand Valley State University,
who will deliver the luncheon keynote speech at noon Friday.
Miller-Adams will address "The Kalamazoo Promise as a Tool
for Economic Development." She is currently a visiting scholar
at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, where she
is working on a book about the Kalamazoo Promise to be published
in 2008.

Other activities of note include panel discussions addressing
key issues in political science, including "Religion in
the 2008 Presidential Election" from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday
and a roundtable discussion on the U.S. Supreme Court featuring
Drs. Mark Hurwitz and Ashlyn Kuersten, both WMU associate professors
of political science, from 10:30 a.m. to noon Friday.

For more information, call Dr. John Clark, WMU professor of
political science, at (269) 387-5620.